Purple Rice Pancakes aka Alien Brain Fritters

Ok so yes you really do eat this purple alien with an afro.

Inspired by me previous success with chickpea crepes I decided to delve into the purple world. I mean play with rice, Thai Purple rice that is. Grind up a little bit and you can turn a gluten free treat into purple neat.

Now before I get into the recipe that I know you are all dying for let me say this, I am aware that my pan was too hot and had too much oil. These are things that I could correct next time. But.....Those conditions are what gave me these really cool shapes. And isn't the point of food that it should look cool?

Ok So the recipe; (as best as I can remember it from last week)

Alien Brain Fritters

1tbl Cashew Flour

2tbl Purple Rice Flour

3/4c Chickpea Flour

2ea eggs

2tbl Olive Oil

3tbl Agave Nectar

1c Scalded Milk

1/4tsp Baking Soda

Combine the flours, agave nectar,  and olive oil. Whisk in the milk while still hot. Allow the mixture to cool then whisk in eggs. Let the batter rest for about ten minutes. Stir gently and incorporate the baking soda. Cook like pancakes. These are very fun looking. Also they taste like cute crunchy purple donuts. Very Yum.

So now that you have put these cute purple things on a plate what ever should you do with them? Try topping them with; Scrambled Eggs with Yam and Lotus Root, or a wonderful Coconut Milk Chutney. Both of these recipes will show up but the end result was tasty too!!

Matilda Part 2008

So part one of my Matilda review. I was luck enough to find the one store in the area that still had the 2008 Matilda from Goose Island in stock!! I was even luckier that a few wonderful friends knew that this would be the perfect Birthday present for me.... Well third best but thats a discussion for later. Needless to say me = increadibly greatful. So onward to the review.

My beer drinking has I'll admit become a bit snobish. I shall, have, and will continue to shun the mega breweries. This has led to my palette developing a taste for ...well taste!! Hence a lot of belgian beers have come my way. And a ways back Goose Island whipped out four belgian clones.

Which brings us to Matilda. Matilda is a clone of Orval . A fairly nice one I'll admit. I think a little light on the caramel notes but the hops and brett are darn near dead on. So I took the time to saveor afour pack. I drank over three days and all tasted about the same. It poured unusually hazy the aroma was good, (being a relative term here since there is alot of brett), A little damp wool and orange peel. The body seemed lighter than I remember but the haze of suspended yeast helped to fill it out some. The aroma seemed to carry through the beer. Light on the caramel as I said, but the orange flavors played well with the fading hops. A few hints of brett that lingered on the tongue weere pleasurable.

Overall I would like to say that I found this beer quite tasty, (I will review both the 2009 and Orval later) Although from the haze and intensity of brett character I feel as though this may have been improperly stored for a period of a few months. Although I feel it as a tribute to the brewer that this misstorage did not create an unpalatable result.

Purple Polenta Eater.....

So here is the deal I get in the car after a hard days work to go and plan out some crazy cooking. Well my craziness is mostly done (see terrine). But anyway here is what I am told “we have some curried chicken fat for you”. Now this might not sound appetizing to some but my this is just the adventuresome thing I like to hear. It fires up the brain and gets you cooking on all gears (which can be a greasy mess but is fun anywhoo) So point being I need to think of what to do with this and well chicken Curry and corn all start with “C” and chicken tamales are good and blue cornmeal is gluten free fun, and I have been dying to play with polenta recently So there for here you go;

Curry Chicken Purple Polenta

1cup blue cornmeal
~3cups chicken stock
3tbl curried chicken fat
1/3 butter
1 dried chili
1/4cup chevre
optional ingredients;
    1/2tsp – 1tbl curry powder
    1/2ea – 1ea minced hot pepper
    2tbl peanut butter

Quick easy and spicy too!!! To start gently roast the cornmeal in a sautee pan until lightly aromatic. Similar smell to popcorn. Add chicken fat and ground dried chili, stir to coat the cornmeal. Slowly add the chicken stock (preferably warmed, but room temp will do). Stir and add, stir and add, repeat ad nausium per risotto. Once you have achieved a cream of wheat looking mush that is faintly purple in color you are almost there. Remove from the heat stir in the chevre in thumbnail size chunks. Spread the polenta into what ever clean dish you have available and refrigerate.

This was served shilled the next day a very fine treat much more tasty than the Epic Fail Terrine. We simple sliced as though it were a pie and enjoyed. A good lemon saffron yogurt sauce would be a fine accompaniment. Now my  thoughts though are always to improve upon what I have made so therefore the adjustments that I would make to this are;

Instead of curried chicken fat use a heavily curried vegetable stock. ( I know this defeats the whole original premise but that as just a starting point as all original premises are)

Add another tablespoon of butter.

Increase the Goat cheese to 1/2cup.

And as for serving, take on the second day cut into one inch cubes wrap with blanched leek leaves and flash fry.

Photo Credit; Lindsay Christians